Winner of the Israel Prize for Literary Research 1999
The Biblical Presence in Shakespeare, Milton, and Blake
A Comparative Study
Harold Fisch
Price: £79.00 (hardback)
ISBN-13: 978-0-19-818489-8
Publication date: 1 January 1999
352 pages, 10 halftones, 216x138 mm
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| Reviews |
| - 'The breadth of background knowledge and the quality of the critical argument are impressive.' - Years Work in English Studies
- 'A wonderful book. Harold Fisch writes with wisdom and reflection, from deep knowledge and long thought, and with a blessed freedom from the shortcomings of those still in the academic sausage-factory. The elegance of his structure, the depth of his analyses, the significance of his allusions to other critics past and present, are all driven by the inexorable logic and importance of his
insights into these three great writers ... The whole section on Shakespeare abounds with delight, and riches for the understanding.' - Literature & Theology
- 'This is an extremely rich and rewarding book which, although primarily an exercise in literary criticism, contains many stimulating ideas about biblical hermeneutics.' - Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
- 'An individual and original study. The result is exhilarating ... something much more than a catalogue of reworkings ... the book has rare excitement... The conjunction of three such major poets allows for some rich comparisons, and it is admirable in its boldness. Such a brief summary does not do justice to a rich and absorbing book ... wonderful rollercoaster ride of this spendidly energetic
study.' - The Expository Times
- 'Few scholar-critics, perhaps no other, could have written this treasure of a book, at once broadly sweeping in its wise though radical judgments of three major Western authors and their mileaux, and surgically incisive and startling in its readings of particualr works ... readers will enjoy throughout the pleasure of recognition and the excitement of discovery - always accompanied by an
appropriate critical context. What a book!' - CHOICE
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| Description |
In this penetrating study of the poetics of influence the indebtedness of Shakespeare, Milton, and Blake to a common source, namely the Bible, becomes a powerful tool for displaying three fundamentally different poetic options as well as three different ways of dealing with a conflict central to western culture. In fresh and original discussions of Julius Caesar
, Antony and Cleopatra
,
Hamlet
, and King Lear
, Fisch discerns what he terms the metagon
: not the struggle between the characters on the stage but a struggle for the control of the play between biblical and non-biblical modes of imagining. Milton seems more single-minded in his reliance on biblical sources, yet from his analysis of Paradise Lost and Samson Agonistes
Fisch concludes that there are
unresolved contradictions, both aesthetic and theological, which threaten the coherence and balance of these poems as well. Blake in his turn perceived these contradictions in the work of his predecessors, condemning both Shakespeare and Milton for allowing their writing to be curbed by Greek and Latin models and claiming for himself a more authentic inspiration-that of 'the Sublime of the Bible'.
But Blake's marvellous achievements in the sublime mode, as for instance in his Illustrations to Job, often reverse the direction of his biblical source, replacing dialogue with monologue.
Harold Fisch's work combines an unremitting attention to the minutiae of the texts with a dazzling capacity for broad insights and judgements. He is equally at home in theological learning as in English
literature.
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Readership: Scholars and students of Shakespeare, Milton, and Blake; also of interest to theologians and Biblical scholars.
| Authors, editors,
and contributors |
Harold Fisch, Emeritus Professor of English, Bar-Ilan University
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The specification in this catalogue, including without
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and month of publication, was as accurate as
possible at the time the catalogue was compiled.
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